Also, if you have a chance today, head over to DARKEST CRAVINGS, where I’m talking about adult fiction and my approach to writing love scenes 🙂

Now, even though February is a short month, it is providing us with a consistent number of new releases each week. Again, this week, we have fourteen or so interesting books from which to choose and add to your TBR pile. I’m interested in Influx, the Daniel Suarez book, although I know we have a lot of JD Robb fans here!

What do you want to read this week? As always, leave a comment telling me the book you’d most like to win, and maybe random.org will make your wishes come true. Your choice of print or digital unless otherwise stated. International? Of course! As long as Book Depository delivers to your country, please enter. If you’d prefer the first book in a series listed here, that’s okay, too.

In a long-empty New York building, Lieutenant Eve Dallas’s husband begins the demolition process by swinging a sledgehammer into a wall. There are two skeletons wrapped in plastic behind it. He summons his wife immediately, and by the time she’s done with the crime scene, there are twelve murders to be solved. The place once housed a shelter for troubled teenagers, back in the mid-2040s, and Eve tracks down the people who ran it. Eve begins to put names and faces to the remains. They are all young girls. They all lost their chance for a better life. Eve discovers a connection between the victims and someone she knows. She grows even more determined to reveal the secrets of the place that was called The Sanctuary, and the evil concealed in one human heart.

A collection of the critically acclaimed dark, weird and surreal short fiction of Ben Peek. It presents a world where bands are named after the murderer of a dead president, where the work of Octavia E. Butler is turned into an apocalypse meta-narrative, and John Wayne visits a Wal-Mart. It presents a world where a dying sun shines over a broken, bitter landscape and men and women tattoo their life onto their skin for an absent god. It presents Mark Twain dreaming of Sydney, and answers a questionnaire you never read. (ebook only)

In The Highwayman, Salvatore takes his readers back to his signature world of Corona many years before the DemonWars, introducing a fascinating new hero. The roads are unsafe to travel; goblins and bloodthirsty Powries search out human prey. Two religions struggle fiercely for control. Only the Highwayman travels freely, his sword casting aside both Powries and soldiers. The people need a savior, but is the Highwayman on a mission of mercy, or vengeance? In The Ancient, Bransen Garibond is tricked into journeying across the Gulf of Corona to the wild lands of Vanguard, where he is pressed into service in a desperate war. If Branson fails, all who live on the lake will perish, and all of northern Honce will fall under the shadow of the merciless and vengeful Samhaists.

Somewhere in Alaska a locked house full of ripped apart bodies and one teacup poodle covered in blood. Somewhere in Alaska, the voice of a dead woman speaks through a car radio. And somewhere in Alaska, the last surviving descendant of one of John Charming’s only friends is being pursued by nightmare hounds. The dog days have begun. (ebook only)

A cache of bones is found in a shallow grave in local woods. Meanwhile missing persons cases in Portland seem to be on the increase. As more bones are discovered, Portland homicide Detective Nick Burkhardt and his partner Hank Griffin investigate, but there seems to be no connection between the victims. A brand-new original story set in the Grimm universe.

The world of Safehold, last redoubt of the human race, lay under the unchallenged rule of the Church of God Awaiting. What no one knew was that the Church was an elaborate fraud, a high-tech system meant to keep humanity hidden from the alien race that had destroyed old Earth. Then awoke Merlyn Athrawes, cybernetic avatar of a warrior a thousand years dead, felled in the war in which Earth was lost. Merlyn has one purpose: to restart the history of the too-long-hidden human race. The island empire of Charis has declared its independence from the Church. Charis has drawn more and more of the countries of Safehold to the cause of independence and self-determination. The wounded Church is regrouping. The fight for humanity’s future isn’t over, and won’t be over soon.

Falling in love in a werewolf pack leads to some very bad choices. The secret lives of the werewolf packs that live and hunt alongside human society in Reflected, the third book of the series that began with her debut novel, Silver. Silver and her mate Andrew Dare are pack leaders of the entire North American werewolf population, and that makes the more traditional packs in Europe very nervous indeed. It’s getting hard to hide from human surveillance.

In the prologue, Eve speaks about what we are told happened in the Garden of Eden, a story she hardly recognizes. She tells her version of events, revealing to us that the constellations we see in heaven conceal other heavens we have never seen or allowed ourselves to see. She reveals four of these hidden constellations and describes how they came to be. Each of the four subsequent chapters is the story of one of these new zodiacs, teaching us how to look at these constellations central to women, a knife, a cauldron for cooking, a paradise garden, a pair of lovers embracing, and how to know the women whose stories they tell: a metamorphosis of Sarah, Abraham’s wife; an invented polytheist cook; Job’s wife; and the queen of Sheba.

An isolated religious sect in the desert confronts the collapse of civilization. Could this be the end of the world they’ve been waiting for? With the murderous Kimball clan’s evil plots finally crushed, Dr. Jacob Christiansen begins to embrace his role as leader of the polygamist community of Blister Creek. Then the world around them falls apart. Blister Creek suddenly faces the very doomsday scenario they’ve been preparing for. Years of stockpiling guns, ammunition, food, and fuel are paying off: Their preparations have not gone unnoticed. A newly empowered government agency and a vengeful governor have their sights set on Blister Creek and their supplies. Can Jacob defend his community and lead them through the apocalypse? Only God knows.

The Others face their greatest threat yet. An ancient book of spells with the power to turn ordinary humans into Others has fallen into the wrong hands, threatening to destroy the precarious balance between the forces of Darkness and Light. Now the Night Watch and the Day Watch must cooperate to stop the culprit. Anton, the hero from Night Watch, is back, but when the renegade Other turns out to be closer to home than he expected, the race to prevent global war becomes more urgent than ever. And as Anton gets closer to discovering the true nature of the Others, he begins to question how much of a difference there truly is between the Dark and the Light. (U.S. Release)

His name is Nathan Garrett, but he’s also known as Hellequin. And murdering one of his friends and trying to blow him up is a good way to get this centuries-old sorcerer’s full attention. An old friend’s dead body, a cryptic note, and an explosion that almost costs him his own life propel Nate headfirst into a mystery involving a new threat from an old foe. Now he must piece together the connections between a grisly series of tattooed murder victims, an imprisoned madman, a mysterious alchemist, and a deranged plot to usurp the throne of the hidden realm of Shadow Falls, rival to the power of Avalon. Can Nate avert the coming slaughter, or will he become the latest to fall in this clandestine war?

Particle physicist Jon Grady is ecstatic when his team achieves what they’ve been working toward for years. Their research will revolutionize the field of physics. Then, his lab is locked down by a shadowy organization whose mission is to prevent the social upheaval technological advances bring. This Bureau of Technology Control uses the advanced technologies they have harvested to fulfill their mission. Presented with the opportunity to join the BTC and improve his technology in secret, Grady balks, and is thrown into a high-tech prison built to hold rebellious geniuses. Can Grady and his fellow prisoners conceive of a way to usher humanity out of its artificial dark age? Is it possible to defeat an enemy that wields a technological advantage half a century in the making?

Prince Corin has been chosen to free the dragons from their bondage to the Empire, but dragons aren’t big on directions. They have given him some of their power, but none of their knowledge. Tam, sensible daughter of a well-respected doctor, had no idea before she arrived in the capital that she is a Seer, gifted with visions. When the two run into each other in the library, sparks fly and Corin impulsively asks Tam to dinner. Never mind that the prince isn’t allowed to marry a commoner: war is coming to Caithen. Torn between Corin’s quest to free the dragons and his duty to his country, the lovers must both figure out how to master their powers in order to save Caithen. With a little help from a village of secret wizards and a rogue dragonrider, they just might pull it off.

All secrets will be revealed as Slayer Joss McMillan tracks a murderous vampire terrorizing his hometown of Santa Clara. During his investigation, Joss comes head to head with old enemies seeking revenge and faces the truth about his sister Cecile’s murder. Joss must use all of his skill to protect his loved ones, even if it means paying the ultimate price.

The small print: This contest is international to any place Book Depository ships. Contests end at midnight CDT U.S. on Saturday, and winners will be announced on Sunday’s blog. It’s the responsibility of the winner to contact me with their mailing info.

Thanks so much for the great prize last week. I couldn’t resist entering again even though lightning probably won’t strike twice. I’d really like to get a copy of Concealed In Death. Fingers crossed, thanks again.

As always, thanks for the giveaway! INFLUX by Suarez sounds great, but I have been impatiently waiting for MOTH AND SPARK and I would be thrilled to win that!!! (Are we not doing the extras anymore, ie, FB follow, Twitter follow, etc? It’s fine if not, of course, just making sure!) Thanks!